Early dungeon-crawl video games used turn-based movement: if the party didn't move, neither did the enemies.[3]Dungeons of Daggorath, released for the TRS-80 Color Computer in 1982, combined a typical first-person dungeon crawl with real-time elements, requiring timed keyboard commands and where enemies move independently of the player.[4] The game lacked numerical statistics such as hit points or vitality, but instead used an arcade-like fatigue system where the heart pulsates to indicate the player's health,[5] a concept inspired by the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders where a heartbeat-like sound gradually increases pace as enemies advance towards the player.[6]

While Western computer developers explored the possibilities of real-time RPG gameplay to only a limited extent,[15]Japanese developers, with their recently aroused interest in the RPG genre, created a new brand of action/RPG, combining the RPG genre with arcade-style action and action-adventure elements.[16][17] In contrast to Japan, the great majority of Western computer RPGs at the time were turn-based.[18] While its status as an action RPG is often debated, The Legend of Zelda (1986) was responsible for the surge of action-oriented computer RPGs released since the late 1980s,[18] with "the rise of action CRPGs" in the West being "a mostly successful effort to bring" its "style of gaming to the PC."[18]

The company most often credited as the pioneer of the new action role-playing genre is Nihon Falcom,[1] particularly game designer Yoshio Kiya,[19] creator of the Dragon Slayer series, who earned a reputation as the progenitor of the action role-playing genre.[20] His 1983 computer game Panorama Toh (Panorama Island) for the PC-88.[21] It was an early action RPG, demonstrating some of Kiya's ideas of RPG design which departed significantly from the turn-based norm at the time. The game combined RPG gameplay with real-time combat, combined fantasy with sci-fi elements, and introduced survival mechanics. It would be the precursor to his most famous franchise, Dragon Slayer. Kiya would go on to create the Dragon Slayer and Brandish series of action role-playing games.[22][23] While its role-playing elements were limited, lacking traditional statistical or leveling systems, the game featured real-time combat with a gun, bringing it closer to Falcom's later action role-playing formula. The game's desert island overworld also featured a day-night cycle, non-player characters the player could attack or converse with, and a basic survival mechanic – the player had to find and consume rations to restore hit points lost with each action.[22]

Action RPGs were first popularized by The Tower of Druaga,[17] an arcade game released by Namco in June 1984. It was conceived as a "fantasy Pac-Man" with combat, puzzle-solving, and subtle RPG elements.[30] It combined hack & slash real-time combat with some basic RPG elements, laying the foundations for early action role-playing games such as Dragon Slayer and Hydlide.[31]The Tower of Druaga's hack & slash combat included the ability to both attack with a sword by pressing the attack button and defend with a shield by standing still.[32] It attracted millions of fans in Japan, and went on to inspire early action RPGs such as Dragon Slayer,[33]Hydlide, Ys and The Legend of Zelda.[31] In particular, its success in Japan inspired the near-simultaneous development of three early action role-playing games: Dragon Slayer, Courageous Perseus, and Hydlide. Each of these games combined Druaga's real-time hack-and-slash gameplay with more RPG mechanics. A rivalry developed between the three games, with Dragon Slayer and Hydlide continuing their rivalry through subsequent sequels.[34]

In September 1984, Nihon Falcom debuted Yoshio Kiya's Dragon Slayer series,[35] which won a reputation as the progenitor of the action RPG genre.[20]Dragon Slayer was created by Yoshio Kiya,[31] who built on the action role-playing elements of his previous game Panorama Toh,[22] as well as The Tower of Druaga.[17]Dragon Slayer abandoned the command-based battles of early RPGs in favour of real-time hack-and-slash combat that requires direct input from the player, alongside puzzle-solving elements.[1] The original Dragon Slayer, released for the NEC PC-88 computer in 1984,[31] is considered to be the first action-RPG.[36] In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes, Dragon Slayer was a dungeon crawl RPG that was entirely real-time with action-oriented combat.[36] The game also featured an in-game map to help with the dungeon-crawling, required item management due to the inventory being limited to one item at a time,[31] and introduced the use of item-based puzzles which later influenced The Legend of Zelda.[20]Dragon Slayer'soverhead action-RPG formula was used in many later games.[37] Both Dragon Slayer and The Tower of Druaga laid the foundations for future action RPG series such as Hydlide, Ys, and The Legend of Zelda.[31]

Another early action role-playing game was Courageous Perseus,[38][39] released by Cosmos Computers for Japanese computers in September 1984, the same month as Dragon Slayer.[40] It was technically more advanced than both Dragon Slayer and Hydlide,[40] featuring more advanced graphics,[34]Template:Rp exploration on a large desert island, raft transport for sea travel to smaller isles, and a wide variety of items and monsters. However, it was not as well-received, as it relied heavily on level grinding, and included a health-draining mechanic where the player lost one hit point every second.[40]

T&E Soft's Hydlide, released in December 1984,[41] was created by Tokihiro Naito,[42] who was influenced by The Tower of Druaga.[34]Template:RpHydlide was an early open-world game,[43] rewarding exploration in an open-world environment.[44] It also featured innovations such as the ability to switch between the attack and defense mode, a quick save and load option (which can be done at any moment of the game through the use of passwords), and a health regeneration mechanic where health and magic slowly regenerate when standing still.[45][46][47] The game was immensely popular in Japan, selling 2 million copies across all platforms.[39]

Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, released in 1985 (billed as a "new type real time role-playing game"), was a fully-fledged action RPG with many character stats and a large quest,[36][51] with action-based combat setting it apart from other RPGs.[1] It also incorporated a side-scrolling view during exploration and an overhead view during battle,[37] though some rooms were also explored using an overhead view. The game also allowed the player to visit towns, which had training facilities that can improve statistics, and shops that sell items, equipment that change the player character's visible appearance, and food that is consumed slowly over time and is essential for keeping the player alive. It also introduced gameplay mechanics such as platform jumping, magic that can be used to attack enemies from a distance,[36] an early Karma morality system where the character's Karma meter will rise if he commits sin which in turn affects the temple's reaction to him,[36][51] and individual experience for equipped items.[51] It is also considered a "proto-Metroidvania" game,[52] due to being an "RPG turned on its side" that allowed players to run, jump, collect, and explore.[53] The game gained immense popularity in Japan, setting records for PC game sales by selling more than 400,000 copies.[51] The way the Dragon Slayer series reworked the entire game system of each installment is considered an influence on Final Fantasy, which would do the same for each of its installments.[54] According to Dragon Slayer creator Yoshio Kiya in a 1987 interview, when he developed Dragon Slayer, he "wanted to make something new", which "was like a bridge to the 'action RPG', and Xanadu was taking those ideas to the next level." He also avoided implementing random encounters because he "always thought there was something weird about randomized battles, fighting enemies you can't see, whether you want to or not."[55]

Tritorn, released by Zainsoft for Japanese computers in 1985, was a side-scrolling, platformer-action RPG hybrid (much like Xanadu), released in the same month. Tritorn had fewer RPG elements than Xanadu, instead focusing more on action. Tritorn was influenced by Hydlide and Dragon Buster.[34] Released in October 1985, Tritorn[56] improved on the early Dragon Slayer and Hydlide games by replacing their simple bump-attack real-time combat with a true hack & slash combat system where the player needs to press an attack button to swing a sword, like in the earlier Tower of Druaga and the later Legend of Zelda.[57]

Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness, released in 1985,[58] introduced an early morality meter, where the player can be aligned with Justice, Normal, or Evil, which is affected by whether the player kills humans, good monsters, or evil monsters, leading to townsfolk ignoring players with an evil alignment, denying access to certain clues, dialogues, equipment, and training. The game also introduced a time option, allowing the player to speed up or slow down the gameplay.[45]

Magical Zoo's The Screamer, a 1985 post-apocalyptic cyberpunkhorror RPG released for the PC-8801,[59][60][61] featured gameplay that switched between first-person dungeon crawl exploration and side-scrolling shooter combat, where the player could jump, duck and shoot at enemies in real-time.[61]

The Legend of Zelda (1986), while often not considered a true RPG, was an important influence on the action RPG genre

The next two years, 1986 and 1987, would see the release of games that would further define the action/RPG genre in Japan. Xanadu Scenario II, released in 1986, was an early example of an expansion pack, created to expand the content of Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu.[37]

An important influence on the genre was the 1986 action-adventure, The Legend of Zelda, which is not considered an action RPG since it lacked key RPG mechanics like experience points, but had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for future action RPGs.[62] In contrast to previous action RPGs such as Dragon Slayer and Hydlide which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, The Legend of Zelda featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen.[31][45] It was also an early example of open world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced innovations like battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since.[63] The game was largely responsible for the surge of action-oriented RPGs released since the late 1980s, both in Japan as well as in America, where it was often cited as an influence on action-oriented computer RPGs.[18] When it was released in North America, Zelda was seen as a new kind of RPG with action-adventure elements, with Roe R. Adams (who worked on the Wizardry series) stating in 1990 that, although "it still had many action-adventure features, it was definitely a CRPG."[64]The Legend of Zelda series would continue to exert an influence on the transition of both console and computer RPGs from stat-heavy turn-based combat towards real-time action combat in the following decades.[65] Due to its similarities to action RPGs and its impact on the genre,[66] there continues to be much debate regarding whether or not The Legend of Zelda should be considered an action RPG.[18]The Legend of Zelda series was classified as an action RPG for a long time, before The Legend of Zelda games were eventually re-categorized as action-adventure games.[17]

1986 also saw the arcade release of the sequel to The Tower of Druaga, The Return of Ishtar,[67] an early action RPG[68] to feature two-player cooperative gameplay,[67]dual-stick control in single player, a female protagonist, the first heroic couple in gaming, and the first password save system in an arcade game.[69] The same year, dB-SOFT's Woody Poco featured the ability to equip both a weapon and passive item (such as a lamp) at the same time, health regeneration based on food level, an in-game clock with day/night cycles and four seasons (along with daily/seasonal color changes), and the ability to gamble, steal, and bribe non-player characters.[34]

Other 1986 titles were Rygar and Deadly Towers, which were notable as some of the first Japanese console action RPGs to be released in North America, where they were well received for being a new kind of RPG that differed from both the console action-adventures (such as Castlevania, Trojan, and Wizards & Warriors) and American computer RPGs (such as Wizardry, Ultima, and Might & Magic) that American gamers were previously more familiar with at the time. Deadly Towers and Rygar were particularly notable for their permanent power-up mechanic, which at the time blurred the line between the power-ups used in action-adventures and the experience points used in RPGs. It was more similar to experience points used in other RPGs than typical action-adventure power-ups.[16]

Another "Metroidvania" style open-world action RPG released in 1987 was System Sacom's Sharp X1 computer game Euphory, which was possibly the only Metroidvania-style multiplayer action RPG produced, allowing two-player cooperative gameplay.[75] That same year also saw the release of several Dragon Slayer titles, including Faxanadu, a spin-off of Xanadu and a fully side-scrolling action RPG,[37] and Dragon Slayer IV: Legacy of the Wizard, another early example of a non-linear open-world action RPG.[76] The fifth Dragon Slayer title, Sorcerian, was also released that year. It was a party-based action RPG, with the player controlling a party of four characters at the same time in a side-scrolling view. The game also featured character creation, highly customizable characters, class-based puzzles, and a new scenario system, allowing players to choose which of 15 scenarios, or quests, to play through in the order of their choice. It was also an episodic video game, with expansion disks released soon after offering more scenarios.[31][77] Falcom also released the first installment of its Ys series in 1987. While not very popular in the West, the long-running Ys series has performed strongly in the Japanese market, with many sequels, remakes and ports in the decades that followed its release. Besides Falcom's own Dragon Slayer series, Ys was also influenced by Hydlide, from which it borrowed certain mechanics such as health-regeneration when standing still, a mechanic that has become common in video games today.[45][46]Ys was also a precursor to RPGs that emphasize storytelling,[78] and is known for its 'bump attack' system, where the protagonist Adol automatically attacks when running into enemies off-center, making the game more accessible and the usually tedious level-grinding task more swift and enjoyable for audiences at the time.[79] The game also had what is considered to be one of the best and most influential video game music soundtracks of all time, composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa.[79][80][81] In terms of the number of game releases, Ys is second only to Final Fantasy as the largest Eastern role-playing game franchise.[79]

Hydlide 3: The Space Memories, released for the MSX in 1987 and for the Mega Drive as Super Hydlide in 1989, adopted the morality meter of its predecessor, expanded on its time option with the introduction of an in-game clock setting day-night cycles and a need to sleep and eat, and made other improvements such as cut scenes for the opening and ending, a combat system closer to The Legend of Zelda, the choice between four distinct character classes, a wider variety of equipment and spells, and a weight system affecting the player's movement depending on the overall weight of the equipment carried.[45] Another 1987 action RPG, The Magic of Scheherazade, was notable for several innovations, including a unique setting based on the Arabian Nights, time travel between five different time periods, a unique combat system featuring both real-time solo action and turn-based team battles, and the introduction of team attacks where two party members could join forces to perform an extra-powerful attack.[82] That same year, Kogado Studio's sci-fi RPG Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War featured a unique "tug of war" style real-time combat system, where battles are a clash of energy between the party and the enemy, with the player needing to push the energy towards the enemy to strike them, while being able to use a shield to block or a suction ability to absorb the opponent's power. It also featured a unique conversation system, where the player can recruit allies by talking to them, choose whether to kill or spare an enemy, and engage enemies in conversation, similar to Megami Tensei.[83]Wonder Boy in Monster Land combined the platform gameplay of the original Wonder Boy with many RPG elements,[84] which would inspire later action RPGs such as Popful Mail (1991).[85]

1988 saw the debut of Telenet Japan's Exile, a series of action-platform RPGs,[86] beginning with XZR: Idols of Apostate. The series was controversial for its plot, which revolves around a time-traveling Crusades-era Syrian Islamic Assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures as well as modern-day political leaders,[87] with similarities to the present-day Assassin's Creed action game series.[88] The gameplay of Exile included both overhead exploration and side-scrolling combat, featured a heart monitor to represent the player's Attack Power and Armour Class statistics, and another controversial aspect of the game involved taking drugs (instead of potions) that increase/decrease attributes but with side-effects such as affecting the heart-rate or causing death.[87] The developer of the Ultima series, Origin Systems, released an action RPG that year, Times of Lore, which was inspired by NES titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda.[18] In turn, Times of Lore inspired several later titles by Origin Systems, such as the 1990 games Bad Blood, another action RPG based on the same engine,[89] and Ultima VI: The False Prophet, based on the same interface.[90] That same year, World Court Tennis for the TurboGrafx-16 introduced a new form of gameplay: a unique tennis-themed sports RPG mode.[91]

In 1993, the second Seiken Densetsu game, Secret of Mana, received considerable acclaim,[107] for its innovative pausable real-time action battle system,[108][109] modified Active Time Battle meter adapted for real-time action,[110] the "Ring Command" menu system where a variety of actions can be performed without needing to switch screens,[108] its innovative cooperativemultiplayer gameplay,[107] where the second or third players could drop in and out of the game at any time rather than players having to join the game at the same time,[111] and the customizable AI settings for computer-controlled allies.[112]Edge magazine in 1993 praised it as "a class of its own as far as action RPGs or adventures go."[113] The game has remained influential through to the present day, with its ring menu system still used in modern games (such as The Temple of Elemental Evil)[114] and its cooperative multiplayer mentioned as an influence on games as recent as Dungeon Siege III.[111] Other action RPGs at the time combined the puzzle-oriented action-adventure gameplay style of the Zelda series with RPG elements. Examples include Illusion of Gaia (1993) and its successor Terranigma (1995), as well as Alundra (1997), a spiritual successor to LandStalker.

Around this time, some within the American computer RPG community argued that cartridge-based Japanese console action RPGs "are not role-playing at all" due to many of the popular examples back then, such as Secret of Mana and especially The Legend of Zelda, using "direct" arcade-style actioncombat systems instead of the more "abstract" turn-based battle systems associated with table-top RPGs and American computer RPGs of that era. In response, game designer Sandy Petersen noted that not all console RPGs are action-based, pointing to Final Fantasy and Lufia, and that some computer RPGs such as Ultima VIII have also begun following the console trend of adopting arcade action elements.[116]

On the Super Famicom, Tales of Phantasia was released in Japan in 1995, featuring a real-time side-scrolling fighting game influenced combat mode and an exploration mode similar to classic console RPGs. In 1996, Star Ocean was released with similar real-time combat and classic exploration, but featured a more isometric view during battle. Star Ocean also introduced a "private actions" system, where the player can affect the relationships between characters, which in turn affects the storyline and leads to multiple endings, a feature that the Star Ocean series has become known for.[117]Namco and Enix did not publish these two titles in America, though many of their sequels were later released in the U.S., beginning with Tales of Destiny and Star Ocean: The Second Story, respectively. LandStalker's 1997 spiritual successor Alundra[118] is considered "one of the finest examples of action/RPG gaming," combining platforming elements and challenging puzzles with an innovative storyline revolving around entering people's dreams and dealing with mature themes.[119]

The great majority of first-person computer games up until the late 1980s were turn-based, though a few had attempted to incorporated real-time elements, such as Dungeons of Daggorath and the 1985 game Alterate Reality: The City. Most first-person computer RPGs at the time, used turn-based movement, where if the party didn't move, neither did the enemies, though The Bard's Tale in 1985 attempted to generate random encounters when the player is away from the keyboard to give the impression that monsters weren't just waiting for players to stumble across them. However, such tricks were no substitute for a real-time world where monsters and other characters move about independently and autonomously of the player. This changed in late 1987, when FTL Games released Dungeon Master, a critically acclaimed dungeon crawler where the game world and combat was in semi-real-time, requiring players to quickly issue orders to the characters, setting the standard for semi-real-time first-person computer RPGs for the next several years.[3] Other semi-real-time first-person RPGs in the style of Dungeon Master include SSI's Eye of the Beholder (1990) and Raven Software's Black Crypt (1992).

From Software's King's Field series of dungeon-crawler action RPGs for consoles had been using a fully 3D polygonal first-person perspective from 1994 to 2001, though the series' 2009 spiritual successor Demon's Souls had adopted a third-person view instead.

Action RPGs were far more common on consoles rather than computers, due to gamepads being better suited to real-time action than the keyboard and mouse.[123] Though there have been attempts at creating action-oriented computer RPGs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, often in the vein of Zelda, very few saw any success,[123] with Times of Lore (1988)[18] and Ultima VII (1992) being some of the more successful attempts in the American computer market.[123] An early attempt at incorporating a point-and-click interface in a real-time overhead action RPG was Silver Ghost,[124][125] a 1988 NEC PC-8801 game by Kure Software Koubou.[126] It was a tactical action RPG where characters could be controlled using a cursor.[124] A similar game released by Kure Software Koubou that same year was First Queen, a unique hybrid between a real-time strategy, action RPG, and strategy RPG. Like an RPG, the player can explore the world, purchase items, and level up, and like a strategy video game, it focuses on recruiting soldiers and fighting against large armies rather than small parties. The game's "Gochyakyara" ("Multiple Characters") system let the player control one character at a time while the others are controlled by computer AI that follow the leader, and where battles are large-scale with characters sometimes filling an entire screen.[127][128] Another early overhead action RPG to use mouse controls was Nihon Falcom's 1991 game Brandish, where the player could move forward, backward, turn, strafe and attack by clicking on boxes surrounding the player character.[129]

The 1994 game Ultima VIII also used mouse controls as well as attempting to add precision jumping sequences reminiscent of a Marioplatform game, though reactions to the game's mouse-based combat were mixed. It was not until 1996 that a stagnant PC RPG market was revitalized by Blizzard's Diablo, an action RPG that used a point-and-click interface and offered gamers a free online service to play with others that maintained the same rules and gameplay.[123] However, there is some debate regarding whether or not real-time point-and-click games such as Diablo qualify as action RPGs due to their lack of direct control over the character, which is considered a defining element of action RPGs.[130]

Diablo's effect on the market was significant; it had many imitators and its style of combat went on to be used by many MMORPGs that came after. For many years afterwards, games that closely mimicked the Diablo formula were referred to as "Diablo clones." The definition of a Diablo clone is even vaguer than that of an action RPG, but typically such games have each player controlling a single character and have a strong focus on combat with plot and character interaction kept to a minimum. Non-player characters are often limited in scope. For example, an NPC could be either a merchant who buys and sells items or a service provider who upgrades the player's skills, resources, or abilities. Diablo clones are also considered to have few or no puzzles to solve because many problems instead have an action-based solution (such as breaking a wooden door open with an axe rather than having to find its key).

Role-playing shooters (often abbreviated RPS) are sometimes considered a sub-genre, featuring elements of both shooter games and action RPGs.[131] An early example was Magical Zoo's The Screamer,[61] a 1985 post-apocalyptic sci-fi RPG released in Japan for the NEC PC-8801 computer, set after World War III and revolving around cyberpunk and biological horror themes.[59][60] The gameplay switched between first-person dungeon crawl exploration and side-scrolling shooter combat, where the player could jump, duck and shoot at enemies in real-time.[61] That same year, Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu allowed the player to shoot projectile magic attacks at enemies.[37] The earliest to feature 3D polygonal graphics was the 1986 game WiBArm, released by Arsys Software for the NEC PC-88 computer in Japan and ported to MS-DOS for Western release by Brøderbund. In WiBArm, the player controls a transformable mecha robot, switching between a 2Dside-scrolling view during outdoor exploration to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses are fought in an arena-style 2D shoot 'em up battle. The game featured a variety of weapons and equipment as well as an automap, and the player could upgrade equipment and earn experience to raise stats.[75][132] In contrast to first-person RPGs at the time that were restricted to 90-degree movements, WiBArm's use of 3D polygons allowed full 360-degree movement.[132]

In 1987, Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead, an MSX2 title developed by Fun Factory and published by Victor Music Industries, was the first true survival horror RPG.[133][34] Designed by Katsuya Iwamoto, the game revolved around a female SWAT member Lila rescuing survivors in an isolated monster-infested town and bringing them to safety in a church. It was open-ended like Dragon Quest and had real-time side-view battles like Zelda II. Unlike other RPGs at the time, however, the game had a dark and creepy atmosphere expressed through the story, graphics, and music,[133] while the gameplay used shooter-based combat and gave limited ammunition for each weapon, forcing the player to search for ammo and often run away from monsters in order to conserve ammo.[34]

In 1988, The Scheme, released by Bothtec for the PC-8801, was an action RPG with a similar side-scrolling open-world gameplay to Metroid.[75]Compile's The Guardian Legend that year was a successful fusion of the action-adventure, shoot 'em up and role-playing game genres, later inspiring acclaimed titles such as Sigma Star Saga in 2005.[134] That same year, Arsys Software released Star Cruiser for the PC-88. This innovative game is notable for being a very early example of an RPG with fully 3D polygonal graphics,[121] combined with first-person shooter gameplay,[122] which would occasionally switch to space flight simulator gameplay when exploring outer space with six degrees of freedom. All the backgrounds, objects and opponents in the game were rendered in 3D polygons, many years before they were widely adopted by the gaming industry. The game also emphasized storytelling, with plot twists and extensive character dialogues.[121] It was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990.[122] The game's sequel, Star Cruiser 2, was released in 1992,[135] for the PC-9821 and FM Towns computers.[136]

In 1990, Hideo Kojima's SD Snatcher, while turn-based, introduced an innovative first-person shooter-based battle system where firearm weapons (each with different abilities and target ranges) have limited ammunition and the player can aim at specific parts of the enemy's body with each part weakening the enemy in different ways. Such a battle system has rarely been used since,[137] though similar battle systems based on targeting individual body parts can later be found in Square's Vagrant Story (2000), a pausable real-time RPG[138] that uses both melee and bow & arrow weapons,[139] as well as Bethesda's Fallout 3 (2008) and Nippon Ichi's Last Rebellion (2010).[140] In 1996, Night Slave was a shooter RPG released for the PC-98 that combined the side-scrolling shooter gameplay of Assault Suits Valken and Gradius, including an armaments system that employs recoil physics, with many RPG elements such as permanently levelling up the mecha and various weapons using power-orbs obtained from defeating enemies as well as storyline cut scenes, which occasionally contain erotic lesbian adult content.[75]

Previous (mostly Japanese) attempts at creating online multiplayer action RPGs were largely limited to small-scale online titles, such as Phantasy Star Online and Monster Hunter, but TERA is the first true MMO action RPG, combining the large-scale open world of an MMORPG with the real-time combat system of an action RPG.

While most action RPGs focus on hack & slash while exploring a world (often an open world) and building character stats, some non-linear titles contain events or dialogue choices with consequences in the game world or storyline. The concept of moral consequences and alignments can be seen in action RPGs as early as the 1985 releases Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, with its Karma system where the character's Karma meter will change depending on who he kills which in turn affects the way other NPCs react to him,[51] and Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness, where the player can be aligned with Justice, Normal, or Evil, depending on whether the player kills good/evil monsters or humans, leading to townsfolk ignoring players with an evil alignment.[45]

Woody Poco, released in 1986, allowed the player to make choices, such as gambling, bribing, and stealing, with consequences for the player's actions.[34]Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War in 1987 featured a non-linear conversation system, where the player can recruit allies by talking to them, choose whether to kill or spare an enemy, and engage enemies in conversation, similar to Megami Tensei.[83] One of the first action RPGs to feature multiple endings was Konami's 1987 release Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, which introduced a day-night cycle that affects when certain NPCs appear in certain locations and offered three possible endings depending on the time it took to complete the game.[74] In 1988, Ys II introduced the unique ability to transform into a monster, which allows the player to both scare human non-player characters for unique dialogues as well as interact with all the monsters. This is a recurring highlight in the series, offering the player insight into the enemies, to an extent that very few other games allow to this day.[79]

Some of Quintet's action RPGs allowed players to shape the game world through town-buildingsimulation elements, such as Soul Blazer in 1992 and Terranigma in 1995.[170] That same year, Square's Seiken Densetsu 3 allowed a number of different possible storyline paths and endings depending on which combination of characters the player selected. The game also introduced a class-change system that incorporated light-dark alignments.[171][172] The following year, Treasure's Guardian Heroes in 1996 allowed players to alter the storyline through their actions, such as choosing between a number of branching paths leading to multiple different endings and through the Karma meter which changes depending on whether the player kills civilians or shows mercy to enemies.[173][174]

Some of the earliest action RPGs to allow players to alter the storyline's outcome through dialogue choices were tri-Ace's Star Ocean series of sci-fi RPGs. The original Star Ocean, published by Enix in 1996, introduced a "private actions" social system, where the protagonist's relationship points with the other characters are affected by the player's choices, which in turn affects the storyline, leading to branching paths and multiple different endings.[117][175] This was expanded in its 1999 sequel, Star Ocean: The Second Story, which boasted as many as 86 different endings,[176] with each of the possible permutations to these endings numbering in the thousands, setting a benchmark for the amount of outcomes possible for a video game. Using a relationship system inspired by dating sims, each of the characters had friendship points and relationship points with each of the other characters, allowing the player to pair together, or ship, any couples (both romantic heterosexual relationships as well as friendships) of their choice, allowing a form of fan fiction to exist within the game itself. This type of social system was later extended to allow romantic lesbian relationships in BioWare's 2007 sci-fi RPG Mass Effect. However, the relationship system in Star Ocean not only affected the storyline, but also the gameplay, affecting the way the characters behave towards each other in battle.[177]

In 1997, Quintet's The Granstream Saga, while having a mostly linear plot, offered a difficult moral choice towards the end of the game regarding which of two characters to save, each leading to a different ending.[178] In 1999, Square's Legend of Mana,[179] the most open-ended in the Mana series,[180] allowed the player to build the game world however they choose, complete any quests and subplots they choose in any order of their choice, and choose which storyline paths to follow,[179][181] departing from most other action RPGs in its time.[182] That same year, Square's survival horror RPG Parasite Eve II featured branching storylines and up to three different possible endings.[183]

Another example of choices and consequences in the RPG genre is the Deus Ex series, which debuted in 2000. Inspired by the limited choices in Suikoden (1995), Warren Spector expanded on the idea with more meaningful choices in Deus Ex.[184]

↑Petersen, Sandy (August 1994). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (208): 61. "Not long ago, I received a letter from a DRAGON® Magazine reader. This particular woman attacked the whole concept of cartridge-based role-playing games very vigorously, claiming that games such as Zelda are not role-playing at all. Presumably, she thinks they are arcade games. Zelda has some features of the classic arcade game: combat is direct. Each push of the button results in one swing of the sword, which if it connects, harms or kills an enemy. In standard computer roleplaying games, at least until recently, combat is more abstract. [...] But all that is changing. [...] Ultima VIII requires you not only to control your character's every move in combat, but also his dodging of enemy blows, whether he kicks or stabs, etc. [...] The two forms of play: "arcade" and "role-playing" seem to be mixing more and more in computer and cartridge games. We'll see how far this trend goes, but I suspect there will always be a place for a game which is totally cerebral in combat, instead of relying on reflexes. For every Zelda, or Secret of Mana, there'll be a Final Fantasy II or Lufia."

↑ 16.016.1Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), "Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines", Computer Gaming World (76): pp. 83–84, "While America has been concentrating on yet another Wizardry, Ultima, or Might & Magic, each bigger and more complex than the one before it, the Japanese have slowly carved out a completely new niche in the realm of CRPG. The first CRPG entries were Rygar and Deadly Towers on the NES. These differed considerably from the "action adventure" games that had drawn quite a following on the machines beforehand. Action adventures were basically arcade games done in a fantasy setting such as Castlevania, Trojan, and Wizards & Warriors. The new CRPGs had some of the trappings of regular CRPGs. The character could get stronger over time and gain extras which were not merely a result of a short-term "Power-Up." There were specific items that could be acquired which boosted fighting or defense on a permanent basis. Primitive stores were introduced with the concept that a player could buy something to aid him on his journey."

↑Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), "Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines", Computer Gaming World (76): pp. 83–84 [83], "When The Legend of Zelda burst upon the scene in fall of 1988, it hit like a nova. Although it still had many action-adventure features, it was definitely a CRPG."

↑Petersen, Sandy (August 1994). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (208): 61. "Not long ago, I received a letter from a DRAGON® Magazine reader. This particular woman attacked the whole concept of cartridge-based role-playing games very vigorously, claiming that games such as Zelda are not role-playing at all. Presumably, she thinks they are arcade games. Zelda has some features of the classic arcade game: combat is direct. Each push of the button results in one swing of the sword, which if it connects, harms or kills an enemy. In standard computer roleplaying games, at least until recently, combat is more abstract. [...] But all that is changing. [...] Ultima VIII requires you not only to control your character's every move in combat, but also his dodging of enemy blows, whether he kicks or stabs, etc. [...] The two forms of play: "arcade" and "role-playing" seem to be mixing more and more in computer and cartridge games. We'll see how far this trend goes, but I suspect there will always be a place for a game which is totally cerebral in combat, instead of relying on reflexes. For every Zelda, or Secret of Mana, there'll be a Final Fantasy II or Lufia."

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